A small change

Small changes can be inexpensive usually, and these can also give a little bit of oomph to a boring stock standard kitchen.

I'm talking handles here folks..

Our old handles on our pantry came very loose one day, and try as we might we couldn't tighten them back into place. Threaded they were.

Perhaps it was a hint to look for something more simple that would suit the kitchen better. Any excuse really :-)

Here's what we started with

boring smooth rounded handles

And we ended up with these

lovely squared handles

 
so plain so simple, I really like them

Much better now


Very cheap too, $40 for a pack of 25.. free postage.. ebay. It couldn't have been easier really.

These little beauties, although not everyones cup of tea, suit the kitchen better and are a good replacement for now.


We have plans to redo the kitchen in a couple of years, however this involves knocking down a wall to enlarge the space and integrate the laundry into it.  Plus I would love an island bench too.  Oh well all good things...


Cheerio,
L

Our little munchkin!

I've been away for so long, but I think I have found a way to blog easier and faster from my iPad. Yah!

It's still in the testing phase at this stage, and of course I'll blog all about it once it looks like its a success.

Here's our gorgeous girl, the youngest one anyway. And my oh my have the months passed in a blur. This time last year she was still classed as a newborn, ek!

In this pic she is all of 13 months old...

and we all love her sweet face

As this is somewhat of a test post, I won't natter on and on too much

I will say though that the last couple of months have been quite interesting for us, all due to a netball injury that proved more serious than I thought. So after the hurdle of knee surgery 4 weeks ago, and ongoing physio, I feel almost back to normal. Well almost... but strong enough to tackle this blogging thing once again.

And all the learning that goes with it

Cheerio for now!

L

 

Our Carpet Dilemma

Here's the dilemma..  our lovely (used to be) wool carpet is four years old and suffering badly.  Back then we took our time and picked the extra heavy duty kind that could handle the little and big kids.

Now its proven to be a bit of a dud.   boo.

What a waste - this stuff was not cheap!

carpet we thought could handle all!

It flattens and looks worn in high traffic areas - like the hallway and some parts of the bedrooms.

Any water marks actually stain - ??? I'm gob smacked on this one.

And we're left with carpet that never actually looks clean, or good.  Very annoying to say the least.  And I may be weird, but whenever I'm walking around the house I always look at the floor (just so I can pick up any bits and pieces visitors may notice) - so things like this stick out for me.

Now we've both had quite enough...    either we check the warranty on this, see if there's anything we can do.  Or we decide to can it completely, and look at other options.

On a positive (and there's only one I can see) we can go ahead and start painting the trims without worrying too much about the carpet.
So, a yay for paint!

Now the other options I mentioned is where I'm at (for today anyway), and also where I'm a bit stuck.

Replace the carpet with carpet..   go back to the floorboards (too messy for us with a bub in the house)  -  what other options do we have?  I'm not sure...    I definitely need inspiration and new ideas.

So if anyone is reading (anyone? insert echo here ;) )  I would love to hear your ideas.

Cheerio for now,
L

An Owl for Amy

We're slowly working bit by bit to turn a small bedroom into a (hopefully) beautiful nursery for Amy.
This is the wall behind the door - which also hides her change station.

I'm hoping to build up a small collection of prints, photos, art (& nicknacks!) on this wall to captivate her imagination...  work in progress :)

We finally went frame shopping in town this weekend, and found a couple of lovely plain white ones for the etsy print we bought for Amy's room.  My idea behind it was to get two identical frames to hang on the wall that would ground the (future) collection in some way.

The barn owl prints at JPG Photography (etsy) are so beautiful.

Our print has this lovely metallic sheen that seems to turn it into something magical.  Its so difficult to describe, I hope my photos do it some small justice.

there's a lovely metallic sheen to this print that you're missing ;)

I also had a photo of Emily at the beach enlarged too.  This image was modified to look like a watercolour/drawing in photoshop.  I did this a couple of years ago now and had the print in storage ever since, just waiting for the opportunity to hang it up.  (I simply followed an online tutorial to create this effect)

Emily loves that its hanging in her little sis' bedroom!

So here they are side by side.  I can't wait to add the next bits...

Cheerio for now!

L

Amy's Room, in progress

Just thought I'd post a few photos of baby Amy's room in progress.  I'm loving it much more after I put up the bunting on the window.  A lovely lady from Little Kitten Homemade in the UK (an etsy find) made this bunting after I decided on the colours, pistachio and pink, and picked out the fabric patterns (loving that polka dot!).  I also had another one made for Emily's room, which I'll be writing all about in a seperate post soon.

The idea here was to improve the look of our blinds, boring as they are, and give them more a 'girls room' feel. The pelmet here also needs a good dose of white paint - but all in time no doubt!

Using what we have:-  We bought the blind four years ago, they were expensive (for us), and not many colours to choose from.  So for now we are stuck with it, and need it to work with what we have in the room.  Prettying it up a bit was what I had in mind.

pelmet and window frame both need the dose of white paint here!

Owls are definitely a little theme I'm going with in her room, I also have a beautiful print I found on etsy which I have yet to put up (but will detail that when I get to it - still waiting on a frame) - its very magical, so I'll post the link too.

Owls for Amy!

We have a canvas above the cot that I bought from Typo last year, on sale for $20, but hubby and I have agreed that its not working (and looks really flimsy) - its not often we actually agree on something!  So I'm definitely running with that, and have found a lovely wall decal (etsy again - you can see my obsession) at a very nice price, and thinking about ordering it as a replacement.  So details on that idea soon.

time to go oh flimsy canvas!!

And finally the other wall in this room is made up of a built-in closet (old and dated), desk and shelving.  All in need of some TLC of course.  Paint, new doors and hardware.

I wish painting was like photoshop sometimes!

I'm going to need a ton of white paint for sure!

On the upside this room is quite small, around 3.5m x 3.5m, so painting shouldn't be too bad (hopefullly??).  Furniture placement (and purchase) have to be carefully considered in here too.  We have decided to complete the painting and put up some pictures before anything else gets added, you never know something might occur to us that we've never tried before - we're open to all suggestions.  (any great ideas for a small space?)

As things get done (or put up!), I'll keep you posted!

Cheerio!
L

Small beginnings...

The little miss loves to set a 'special' table at dinnertime. With a few candles and flowers in glass bottles. It made for a very nice Easter table, and she was proud as punch. Little miss says the best thing about setting a table like this is blowing out the candles at the end, and I couldn't agree more - birthday cake candles all over again!

Its lovely to see her take such pride in this, and can tell this is just the beginning. Watching her style the little flowers and foliage, so so proud. I forget how much she's grown.

with her masterpiece!

Very nice!

 

How much does the pink plastic cup rock?

so sweet!

We have this vine growing on our patio with such pretty flowers, from spring to autumn - I love it, not so sure the husband is that impressed, it does tend to take over a bit. The purple flowers attract the biggest bumblebees I've ever seen. And perfect for our table this evening.

I'm thinkin, my next foray in online shopping will have to include a table runner - looking at these photos, something's definitely missing. I could also do with more candles and holders, look out Dusk... hope there's a sale on!

Well, must sign off, a good book and bed are calling.

Happy Easter!

L

An Order of Jam

Received a surprise delivery yesterday - a box of my Gran's homemade jam.  Flavours include quince jelly, raspberry, brambleberry, red currant, apricot and plum.  Around ten in total, and looking very moreish!

What a lovely reminder of a woman that enjoyed the art of homemade.

Her jam was legendary!!
And now are the last jars I'll ever receive.  My husband keeps asking when I'll start using the jam, but for whatever reason I'm hesitant to open them.  I just can't.  So I'll keep taking pictures of them for a little while yet, till I get up the courage to have a little on toast.

The wooden box I have them in is a wonderful little gem that we found when we moved into this house.  My husband was actually using it to store powerpoints and electrical gear downstairs in his workshop - silly man, didn't he realise what a vintage treasure he had... nope, and probably thinks I've gone a bit daft too.

The box has such a wonderful worn appearance, I'll be most certainly featuring it in a lot more of my photos.  I can imagine it sitting proud on a floating shelf in the sitting room, holding all sorts of bits and bobs (and books) - or even on the dining table with a load of lovely white candles!


Cheerio!
L

Filing Cabinet Project - Finally Finished!

Hiya!

After what seems likes ages I've finally finished the filing cabinet project.

Looking back, here is what I started with. An old, veneer, filing cabinet from Officeworks.

oh, veneer! what can we do with you?

I know, I could have easily bought another on the cheap, but I was up for challenging myself.

I wasn't sure how successful it would turn out, and whether it would fit in with the whole home office redo.

But here's how it went...

Undercoated..

Two coats of Zinnsers waterbased primer

Topcoat for the draw fronts...

I decided to try and insert a 'fun' element (onto a boring cabinet) by painting the fronts with chalkboard paint. Now that we have a new little addition to the family - I think its time for furniture to multi-task (if possible).  We went with Porters Paints, and still have quite a lot left for other projects - thinking feature shapes for the girls rooms, not sure.. might ponder for a little while longer.

added a little white to the chalkboard paint = lovely grey!

Topcoat cabinet sides and top...

Here we used Dulux Antique White USA semi gloss, two coats - we have used this shade extensively throughout the house and thought the cabinet would blend in very well.

New handles..

I love these old fashioned shell-like handles, so much so I bought two extra for when we tackle the small writing desk.

What about a hook and little bucket to hold all those pieces of chalk?  Might add that to the side if theres room.

Let me know what you think!

Cheerio for now!

L

Missing you!

Whilst pregnant with Amy last year, I lost two very special people in my life. I think about them everyday, and wish desperately that I could see them one last time. How I miss you both, my Gran and Grand-dad.

Emily & Gran

So I thought, it might do me some good to write a little bit about them every now and then, to document my memories (before I lose them) and as a little bit of therapy. I hope to one day look back here, read this and remember.

So here's a snippet..

It's funny, I'll always remember the smells around their house when arriving for a visit - a beach smell mixed with home cooking a roast with vegies, or baking a lovely batch of rock cakes. I hope I never forget that smell! A hug and kiss from gran, a wave to grand-dad out in the garden, then into the kitchen for a cup of tea and a biccie ( and a chin wag of course!)

The house always smelled amazing, so fresh yet old fashioned at the same time, and I loved being there. There I go talking about smell again, perhaps I have a sensitive nose, but I have always been driven by scent (I won't count the number of times I've bought a new book and the first thing I do is stick my nose into it to smell the new pages - weird? Yes, very).

I never realized how heartbreaking it could be to lose someone so close, I must be so naive having reached the grand old age of 36 and not lose anyone so close. So I never could understand.

Cheerio for now,

L

 

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